As weeks go, last week was no different from the usual, although the cafe was (as usual) closed for the Bank Holiday, so Monday was a holiday. I find it unusual, that on possibly one of the most lucrative days on the calendar, the business closes, whilst the other coffee shops are open. But they have their reasons I suppose.
The biggest event of the week was my niece’s wedding. We have never met her husband to be, although we were aware of him. She is about 5 foot tall and very slim and he is getting on for 6 foot and is very large. Large to the point of being obese, but that has nothing to do with me. They are both well suited and seem very much in love.
They had a civil ceremony in a local event venue called The Engine Shed. It literally was an old railway engine shed in Wetherby but is now a much used local ‘party place.’
It was a good, if a bit of a long, day. The ceremony was at 11:00, but we were asked to be there at around 10:30. I think this was to ensure that the obligatory latecomers didn’t disrupt any of the proceedings. The ceremony went according to whatever plan was in place, and it was quite emotional for the groom, who bravely struggled with his own personal vows, but it all came good in the end.
It took no more than 20 minutes for the service to complete and we were then told that photos were to be taken outside. this was the first of the, shall we say “boring bits.” It took about an hour before all the formal pictures had been taken and we could go back into the warmth. The ‘Wedding Breakfast’ was served and it was a good meal. Then came the speeches and by half-past 2, the first part of the day was complete.
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The evening session was due to start at around 17:30, so time was spent in the bar trying not to get drunk. I was our driver, for a change, but I had a plan, that if I did feel that I couldn’t drive home, we could always get the local bus. Thankfully the price of the drinks prevented me from drinking more than I should.
The session started with a performance by the Rock Choir, which was excellent. They sang around 6 or 7 songs, all of which were favourites of the bride and groom. Then we were ‘treated’ to the sounds of the ‘Disco!’ The ‘DJ’ could only be described as a cross between Greg Wallace and Ross Kemp. He liked the sound of his own voice, as the volume on his microphone was louder than the music he was playing. And the music . . . he seemed to like playing all those tunes that Dad’s dance really badly to (ABBA for example) or those rubbish tunes that are designed to get people all doing the same moves such as The Macarena. Supper was served at 20:00 and it was a choice between a rather dark looking chicken and rice offering and Macaroni Cheese with a small corn-on-the-cob. By this time I was completely passed it and needed to go home.
It was a good(ish) day, but thankfully there will not be another one in the near future.
He has a regular care-team, his own flat and his own motorbility car. During the ‘lock-down’ he went on the 23rd March and did not return until 10th July. Then again he went on the 19th October and was not allowed home, under the rules until 11th December.
Now the interesting thing is that his daily life there is different to here. He does things there that we could never even dream he would do. When he is here, his daily routine is to sit in his room, with his laptop and TV. He will come downstairs for his lunch, then goes back to his room and that is it. Occasionally he will come back downstairs and use my laptop for a while.
that completely amazed us both. In fact, I still cannot get my head around it. My wife and me were downstairs getting things ready, as you do when I that he hadn’t had his morning drink of milk. I took his cup upstairs.
Not today. The TV was turned down and he had on his laptop a video of a Christmas church service. This played for an hour and a half before he started another similar video. I later found out that the first one was the Christmas Eve service from Lichfield Cathedral from 2000 and the second one was the previous nights service from Canterbury Cathedral.
Horizon
the organisers seem to have got the traffic problems under control this year, as there has not (yet) been a repeat of the 5 hour tail-backs on some of the approach roads. The noise? Well it all depend on the wind direction. If the wind is in a certain direction, we do get the continuous hum from the motorway so when that happens we do get some of the festival noise, but it’s not been loud enough to notice.
These ‘sweetener tickets’ are then sold to genuine residents at an extremely discounted rate, with the funds going to local projects. Every year since 2011, I’ve thought about going again, but at the last minute, I back down. I don’t think K*** would enjoy it and I wouldn’t want to go on my own. But who knows how I will feel next year? I have to admit, even though the weather was bad that year with some rain on each of the 3 days, it is quite an experience. The weather has been sort of kind this year, except for the 23rd this month, when we experienced 3 weeks rain in one hour! Now that was a wet day!
had a lot to do with it. The continuous rain on Friday, left me feeling very depressed. Then there was the mud, which really made the weekend, very hard work. I know festivals are supposed to be wet and muddy, but ….
fact it was very pleasant. We did get to see a number of bands, but never even went near the comedy tent. For me, the highlight of the whole weekend, was seeing 
the Les Miserables part. I’ve been a fan of Alfie Boe since he first hit the big time, back in 2006. Well Mrs H told me that she liked him too, which was a bit of a surprise, seeing as she did not know I had got an album by him. Anyway, his new album was advertised, at ASDA for £9.97. Aha I thought, it will be cheaper on the internet. Amazon had it for more or less the same price, but Play.com had if for about a pound cheaper. I’ll order that next week, I thought at the same time as ordering printer ink. Well, I went to get some salad stuff for tea (healthy eating as well as booze free), and spotted said album, at only £5.00 !! Bargain. Mrs H was well pleased, as I explained that it was a present for her !!!
on the A1, after the problems last year. This morning was quiet too, although going north, the A1 was very slow and crowded. The Leeds Festival gates opened at 3am this morning, and as I understand it, there was a steady flow from about that time. S**** was dropped of at his friends house, around noon, and they were going from there. Although the whole thing does not get going until tomorrow, there seems to be some music playing this evening. It will be a bit of a test tomorrow afternoon. I need some petrol, and both the petrol stations that I use are on the A64. Not a road I want to go on, as part of it will be still be closed. I also need a haircut, and the hairdresser’s is also on the same route.
From the keyboard of Tony 
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